Menu

Northern Ireland: Homophobia, sexism, Islamophobia – name any prejudice, and the Union Party are probably guilty of it

Not many photos of Muslims in Northern Ireland but here is one: Celebrating the end of Ramadan.

Coming from Northern Ireland and being represented by a DUP [Democratic Union Party] MP, I know first hand how suffocating it is to live under the far-right political party who hold as core values distrust and disgust of anyone who isn’t a white, Northern Irish, Protestant male.

Yet in this new era of coalition agreements, British parties – and in particular, the Tories – are flirting with the idea of a DUP pact in exchange for the eight to ten Westminster seats they are projected to win. If this happens, English politicians will be using Northern Irish women, people of colour, religious minorities and members of the LGBT community as pawns to boost their political strength.

The DUP’s complete moral deficit goes right to the top of the party. Its leader, Peter Robinson, was accused of Islamophobia last year when he spoke in support of a Protestant minister who described Islam as “satanic” and a “doctrine spawned in hell”.

Mr Robinson explained to the press at the time, “I wouldn’t trust Muslims to give me spiritual advice [and] I wouldn’t trust Muslims who are following Sharia law to the letter.” Then, making what he seemed to think was a generous concession to his country’s Muslim population, he said “However, I would have no difficulty in trusting Muslims to go down to the shop for me, to give me the right change, to do a lot of other things”…

The few photos of Muslims available with a quick Google search make me wonder if this is in fact true (at least the part about Muslims).